Video Resolution Playback

[StevenCarragher]

Until today, I have been able to upload and select playback video resolutions native to my upload resolution (2560px x 1440px). It appears Canvas is now limiting the playback Quality setting to Auto (1080p) when I select the gear icon near the lower right corner of the video window. This is different than earlier this month when I could select a high kbps by clicking on the gear icon to view the full resolution video.

Am I doing something incorrect, and/or is there a higher quality setting possibly in a different place than the gear icon?

Steve

[dbrace]

Hi @StevenCarragher,

I do not have an answer for you but hopefully @AkosFarago can help.

-Doug

[notmichaeljfox]

We're finding that the player defaults to the resolution size at or below the embed size. If a video is embedded at 1920*1080, the highest the auto resolution will be is 1080. The default embed for studio videos means the default resolution is now 360p. Weirdly, the resolution is tied to the embed width, not the height.

A default resolution of 360p creates blurry text and images in videos, which is unacceptable.

Additionally, customs thumbnails default to a lower resolution regardless of the embed size, which I can only imagine was done to save money.

[AkosFarago]

@notmichaeljfox our media player has always supported up to 1080p resolutions, 360p is only the default in very small embed sizes but when you go full screen that should support automatically the largest one. Would you please provide more clarity on the issue when it is defaulted to 360p and it doesn't automatically change when necessary?

We don't change the resolution of the thumbnail image, so it must be a bug if that is the case -- let me send it over to the team to take a look at it and get back to you! 

[notmichaeljfox]

@AkosFarago We're finding that our default studio embed size results in 360p. I don't believe we have a way to change the default size?

We had also wondered if you were using different compression technology?

[dbrace · Accepted solution]

Hi @notmichaeljfox,

I cannot speak to the specifics but I believe the answer to your question (is different compression technology being used) is yes.

I believe that to be the case because of what is documented in  Canvas Release Notes (2025-04-19) - Instructure Community - 637511 and  Studio Release Notes (2025-04-24) - Instructure Community - 639589 .

While the word "compression" is not used, "Video quality automatically adjusts based on available bandwidth." is.

-Doug

[dbrace]

P.S. I also wanted to connect this question to another post from Instructure at https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-LMS-Blog/Updates-to-Our-Media-Player/ba-p/639747.

In that post and in the transcript, the following is said: adaptive streaming for smoother playback

That implies that the possibility of a mix of changes related to compression and streaming technologies.

-Doug